Format Object (Text Box pane)

When you change options in this dialog box, the changes are immediately applied to your shape or text box, making it easy to see the effects of the changes in your text box, shape, or other object, without closing the dialog box. However, since the changes are instantly applied, it is not possible to click Cancel in this dialog box. To remove changes, you must click Undo
on the Quick Access Toolbar for each change that you want to remove.

You can simultaneously undo multiple changes that you made to one dialog box option, as long as you did not make changes to another dialog box option in between.

You may want to move the dialog box so that you can see both the shape and the dialog box at the same time.

Which Office program are you using?

Excel

Text layout

Vertical alignment To specify the vertical position of the text in a shape, select an option from the list.

Text direction To specify the orientation of the text in a shape, select an option from the list.

AutoFit

Resize shape to fit text To increase the size of the shape vertically so that the text fits inside of it, select this check box.

Allow text to overflow shape To let text in a shape that is taller than the shape display across the boundaries of the shape, select this check box. Earlier versions of Excel do not recognize this option and will hide overflowing text.

Internal margin

The internal margin is the distance between the text and the outer border of a shape or object. You can increase or decrease the amount of this space by using the options below.

Left To specify the distance between the left border of a shape and the text, enter the new margin number in the box.

Right To specify the distance between the right border of a shape and the text, enter the new margin number in the box.

Top To specify the distance between the top border of a shape and the text, enter the new margin number in the box.

Bottom To specify the distance between the bottom border of a shape and the text, enter the new margin number in the box.

Wrap text in shape To have text appear on multiple lines inside of a shape, select this check box.

Columns To specify the number of columns of text in a shape and the spacing between the columns, click this button.

Number To specify the number of columns of text in a shape, enter a number in the box.

Spacing To specify the spacing between the columns of text in a shape, enter a number in the box.

Right-to-Left columns Select this option to specify that the columns of text in the shape flow from right to left. This option displays only if you enable support for right-to-left languages.